Death of Books

Death of Books

In the car on the way back from the Warrior
Dash in Colorado, my friends and I played a
game called “Would you rather?” The question popped up: “Would you
rather give up TV for life or give up reading books?” Most people in my
social circle know that I don’t watch much TV. So, my answer was a no
brainer. Everyone else answered that they would give up books. I wasn’t
too surprised by the answer, as I’m under the assumption that most
people watch a lot of TV. However, I was surprised at the reasoning
behind the answer. Most argued that they could read the information on
blogs or news articles and that books could be listened too via
audobooks.

We are in a new era. Books will die. I think the death of books may take
along time, maybe even a century. But it will happen. I believe that
today marks the beginning of this death. Seth Godin
announced
that he will no longer public books in the traditional way. This is
huge! Seth Godin is a marketer with over 12 best sellers. His book
Linchpin,
is one of my favorite books. (Review to come)

Seth wrote:

Traditional book publishers use techniques perfected a hundred years
ago to help authors reach unknown readers, using a stable technology
(books) and an antique and expensive distribution system.

The thing is—now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux
scarcity doesn’t help me or you. As the medium changes, publishers are
on the defensive…. I honestly can’t think of a single traditional book
publisher who has led the development of a successful
marketplace/marketing innovation in the last decade. The question
asked by the corporate suits always seems to be, “how is this change
in the marketplace going to hurt our core business?” To be succinct:
I’m not sure that I serve my audience (you) by worrying about how a
new approach is going to help or hurt Barnes & Noble.

Gary Vaynurchuk was right. The internet is kicking every bit of
traditional media in the pants. So what does this mean for
MindSpread?
I’m not sure yet. But this is the only the beginning, how many other
authors will follow suit?